A strong showing in the largest population area of state Senate District 4 helped propel Sen. Sharon Trusty toward apparent re-election Tuesday.

Trusty, a Republican, polled nearly 60 percent of the vote in Russellville and in early voting, outgaining state Rep. Olin Cook of Russellville, a Democrat, by nearly 3,000 votes, 9,507-6,563.

The candidates virtually tied early Yell County votes, with Trusty leading 1,152-1,100.

However, as of press time, vote totals from Pope and Yell counties were not complete. The district also includes seven precincts in Logan County.

Confident in drawing sufficient numbers of votes in the remaining areas of the district to stave off an upset, Trusty contended that constituent service has been a hallmark of her tenure.

"That's one of the things you can do as a senator. That's the thing that I focused on immediately after my election," the Russellville senator commented. "People talk. You help one person, and they tell 10. If I win, I really have to say that's why."

Trusty said that the next legislative session will likely contain difficult funding decisions.

"We didn't have a lot of money the last session, but I would like to look on this as a challenge," she said.

With Yell County and portions of Pope County vote totals not available, Cook said he was not ready to concede the race.

"I am behind a little more than I expected to be at this point," he admitted.

Cook, who sought the seat because term limits forced him from the state House, attributed some of his opponent's votes to that fact.

"Trusty picked up some votes on that issue," he contended. "Here I was term-limited out, with some people saying that I shouldn't have run for another office. I think term limits has a lot to do with it."

Trusty said she would push for longer term limits.

"I personally did not vote for term limits because I felt like my ballot should be my term limit," she commented. "I would like to see us extend term limits. I want to convey to the people the amount of knowledge that we need and that we have to have in order to vote on issues to benefit our constituents. I think we need to extend the term limits and give elected officials a chance to learn their jobs."